Certainly not the defense, which pitched a shutout at Red Lion Christian Academy Friday afternoon. And not the offense, which meshed big-play and ball-control tendencies toward a 20-0 victory ­­— the Panthers’ third in a row, on the heels of last weekend’s forfeit by Moyer Academy (Del.).

But then again ...

“I’m not saying we didn’t play well,” Perkiomen head coach Tom Calvario said afterward, “but there is big room for improvement.”

Perkiomen got out to a high-octane start off the opening kickoff, John Garrett covering a deflected pass from quarterback Isaiah Smith and completing a 70-yard touchdown jaunt 25 seconds in. With Ray Porres Suarez tacking on the conversion kick, the Panthers (3-1) had all the points they would need to win this outing, thanks to the defense leaving their guests from Delaware (1-4) with the goose egg.

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But the downside of Perkiomen’s performance kicked in: Penalties (eight for 50 yards) and turnovers (two lost fumbles, one interception) that factored in the Panthers coming away empty on two other first-half marches that did little more than run time off the clock.

“Our guys, after scoring on the first play, they took their foot off the pedal,” Calvario said. “That’s not a good thing.”

But the defense did its part to make the seven-point lead stand through the first half — even a prolonged possession in the first quarter courtesy of Perkiomen’s first fumble. After stopping the Lions on downs through seven plays, the Panther “D” tightened on RL after another six-play march that stopped at the home team’s 33.

“Our defense did well, which was fortunate,” Calvario said.

In keeping Red Lion off the scoreboard, Perkiomen held its guests to 93 yards total offense on the afternoon — 27 of that in the second half, when the locals added running touchdowns by John Williams and Garrett. Other than Richard Emerson covering 48 yards on 16 carries, and quarterback Robert Richardson (2-for-2) adding 21 more through the air, the Lions were unable to counter the Panthers’ swarming rushes.

“This was a great comeback for the defense,” senior Olivier Joseph said. “The line was teetering, but persistence was our ally. The fact we have players who fall back on each other adds to the performance.”

The win notwithstanding, John Williams admitted Moyer Academy’s forfeit of the previous week’s game took its toll on the Perkiomen players.

“It was hard,” the game’s rushing leader, with 125 yards on 14 carries, said. “Friday afternoon we were ready to play, then at 2:20 we got the call. It worked out they weren’t able to come.

“If the game ended up being played Saturday, we would have been ready.”

Perkiomen eventually padded its lead on its first touch of the third quarter, Williams roaring 39 yards around his right end at the 7:55 mark. Red Lion marched 13 plays to the Perkiomen 38 — a drive sustained by a fumble recovery and fourth-down penalty by the Panthers — before punting the ball away one last time.

On that possession, the hosts drove 82 yards on 18 plays, the capper Garrett’s eight-yard burst through his right tackle and a second Porres Suarez conversion kick. With only 1:26 left, Red Lion could do little more than pick up seven yards on a pair of runs against a Panther defense bent on nailing down the shutout.

“It was demoralizing to learn we weren’t going to be playing (last weekend),” Joseph admitted. “Because of the long weekend, we only had two days’ practice. So with this, we have a message to send to the competition.”

NOTES

The Perkiomen “D” got to Richardson behind the line of scrimmage five times, dropping the Red Lion QB for losses totalling 14 yards. The biggest was Mark Fisher’s eight-yard sack to the RL 39-yard line. ... Calvario, assessing the effect of last weekend’s altered game schedule: “We’re a very, very young team. Missing the game threw everything off.”